Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[madwullie]

Bold claim of covid being over in Sweden there from the good doctor. He does know more than me tho, so gratz and of course gg to Sweden 

Edited September 22, 2020 by madwullie

[itzdrk]

10 hours ago, 8MileBU said:

Oh ok. Fair enough I suppose.

I’ve more faith in military rule than I do in any politician tbh.

Tbf you do buy jeans at Asda so this level of thinking is expected. 

[ICTChris]

29 minutes ago, Ingo ohne Flamingo said:

Getting fed up of seeing the schools take the blame here. Looking at this map, are people suggesting that Highland, Falkirk, Stirling, Perthshire, Clackmannanshire, Aberdeenshire etc don't have the schools open? This map covers positive tests in the last 7 days. It is obvious it is places like Glasgow and the Lanarkshires that are the problem in Scotland, areas that host scotlands more deprived areas and areas where law abiding is lower. Also worth adding that Glasgow and the Lanarkshires are more densely populated.

Worth looking at the whole 4 nations, again the last 7 days. Look at the Southern half of England, are the schools still shut there?

There's no doubt there has been transmission within schools, but the schools are regulated and behaviours morontrolled therefore it's not that high - Track and Trace is proving this. Considering most livingrooms in Scotland can only fit 2 sofas and a TV Cabinet, having 8 people in there from 3 households there was no danger people could socially distance. I had family and friends over in the last few months and it was impossible to stay distant. Those visits didn't involve alcohol so you can only imagine what a house party with even 8 would be like, then you'll have the usual kitchen party and people using the same toilets, towels etc etc.

I think the issue is that in places where the virus is prevelant then schools have the potential to cause an increased spead.  So in the Western Isles reopening schools isn't an issue because they don't have any cases but in Glasgow, for example, there is more of the virus about so schools have the potential to cause spread.

Also, there are plenty of deprived and densely populated areas in Scotland that aren't seeing spikes. 

[Billy Jean King]

It's the people coming out with "only want schools open so parents can get peace to watch daytime telly" brigade that gets me.

The vast majority of parents wants schools to remain open as it's by far the best mechanism for learning.

There are plenty teachers post on here and through them and the several teachers I know personally plus anecdotally via my son and other pupils in the family I have heard nothing but positive stuff since they reopened. Very few positive cases and basically the usual chancers using C19 to swing the lead.

Until there is confirmed evidence that schools are the main driving force behind the increase in cases they should remain operating as normal. So far there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

[s_dog]

15 minutes ago, Ingo ohne Flamingo said:

Just read this article on the Spectator from a Swedish Doctor in Stockholm https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-dangerous-is-covid-a-swedish-doctor-s-perspective/amp?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0-HKgjAjjc1oNwGPm4NR8xs10_3YrC1vGZ8nMzxsgoP2z-w2GEui_dUBM

 

Hopefully they will continue to see low numbers and be the success story so many people seem to want, but right now this is just hugely premature. If you look at when Sweden had their peak, it was June/July (and it was far higher and longer than it's Nordic neighbours), elsewhere in Europe it was March/April. The rest of Europe is starting to see cases rise now, who's to say that in 2-3 months time Sweden won't see a similar rise?

Edited to add a link to the FT.com article showing graphs of the difference between Sweden & other European countries.

https://www.ft.com/content/5cc92d45-fbdb-43b7-9c66-26501693a371

Edited September 22, 2020 by s_dog

[Marshmallo]

8 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

It's the people coming out with "only want schools open so parents can get peace to watch daytime telly" brigade that gets me.

The vast majority of parents wants schools to remain open as it's by far the best mechanism for learning.

There are plenty teachers post on here and through them and the several teachers I know personally plus anecdotally via my son and other pupils in the family I have heard nothing but positive stuff since they reopened. Very few positive cases and basically the usual chancers using C19 to swing the lead.

Until there is confirmed evidence that schools are the main driving force behind the increase in cases they should remain operating as normal. So far there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

Why can this not be achieved via blended learning?

[Marshmallo]

Also "ma wean goes tae school and husny goat covid!" isn't a great way to set policy impacting every single aspect of humanity and how we live our lives.

[Blootoon87]

I'm confused, I'm sure Toddisgod said this was over as a health crisis a month or two ago?

[Michael W]

30 minutes ago, renton said:

Once it got into a class it would surely spread like wildfire. Surely then, to a test and trace exercise it'd look pretty obvious if you had 30 households all with one or more adult members showing symptoms and the only thing in common being a single school class?

The biggest driver of infection seems to be indoor gatherings (which are now limited to six). No matter which way we paint it, that's exactly what a school class is. 

In theory, I guess it should spread through a class when a kid with the virus turns up, although close contact with a person testing covid positive doesn't always produce subsequent cases. Although if there are no symptoms (and adults don't always show them either) then we won't see subsequent recorded cases. I have difficulty understanding which percentage of cases seem to be asymptomatic becuaee reports vary hugely. I guess we've a big data quality issue in this area as other than those tested routinely due to their employment, no one is getting a test when they aren't showing symptoms. 

To be fair, schools seem to have been pretty good at isolating where a positive case has been identified, but having them in 5 days a week is sending an inconsistent message and is also accepting a degree of risk that, in my view, is not acceptable in a number of areas throughout the UK. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Michael W

[Wee-Bey]

Do pubs in England not shut at 11 anyway ? Seems pretty fucking pointless tbh, also Monday Night Football games kick off at 8.15 now. A good laugh as everyone watching in the boozer gets kicked out in the 86th minute.

[tamthebam]

I was on a bus yesterday, wearing my mask as is required. I went on the top deck as there's usually less people there.

A 50 something bam was sitting at the front with his mask pulled down, drinking an energy drink, coughing and sniffing, wiping his fingers everywhere. I was 2m away from this guy...

1) It did cross my mind to call him out about wearing a mask but cowardice won the day. Given there's likely to be more restrictions now I wish I had.

2) He seemed representative of the 15% a poster mentioned that don't give a f*ck. Some other folk got on and sat opposite this guy and if he did have Covid there's a good chance they were at risk of catching it. 

If more restrictions are put in place again will that get the message through to some folk or will they still not bother?

[Gaz]

25 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

The vast majority of parents wants schools to remain open as it's by far the best mechanism for learning.

There's plenty research that shows there are far better mechanisms of learning than school. However those come with massive logistical challenges that no-one has been able to solve as of yet. Not to mention that they're stuck in a time loop of having to fit around Victorian working patterns that don't exist to the same extent any more.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Gaz

[Billy Jean King]

Why can this not be achieved via blended learning?

For some, probably most, it can but you know as well as I do that a fair % will not give a flying fuk and for some with more "difficult" home circumstances it may be impossible. Kids learn best in school, until there is hard substantive evidence that schools are the main driver behind the 2nd wave they should remain as normal.

[Szamo's_Ammo]

26 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

It's the people coming out with "only want schools open so parents can get peace to watch daytime telly" brigade that gets me.

The vast majority of parents wants schools to remain open as it's by far the best mechanism for learning.

There are plenty teachers post on here and through them and the several teachers I know personally plus anecdotally via my son and other pupils in the family I have heard nothing but positive stuff since they reopened. Very few positive cases and basically the usual chancers using C19 to swing the lead.

Until there is confirmed evidence that schools are the main driving force behind the increase in cases they should remain operating as normal. So far there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

^^^ Buries head further in the sand.

Yeah, let's wait a few months until you find a study which satisfies you rather than the readily available statistics that show Covid cases have surged since the schools reopened. That should work.

[welshbairn]

Meanwhile in Vicky's pet country who can do no wrong..

Quote

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis admitted Monday that his government had made a mistake when it eased restrictions aimed at containing coronavirus over the summer.

His mea culpa came as governments across Europe struggle with a second wave of Covid-19 infections following the holiday months in which the number of cases began rising sharply.

“Even I got carried away by the coming summer and the general mood. That was a mistake I don’t want to make again,” the billionaire populist said in a televised speech.
After fending off much of the pandemic earlier in the year with timely steps including mandatory face masks outdoors, the government lifted most measures before the summer holidays.

The Czech Republic registered a record high of 3,130 coronavirus cases last Thursday, almost matching the total for the whole of March, although testing capacity was low at the start of the pandemic.

Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said the country was now ranked second worst in the EU behind Spain in terms of daily case growth per 100,000 residents.

“The situation is serious. Experts say that if we exceed 120,000 new infections per month, we’ll start running out of hospital beds. We’ll do our best to prevent this,” he said.

Health Minister Adam Vojtech - a lawyer known for singing in the Czech version of the “Idol” series - announced his resignation earlier Monday.

He was immediately replaced with epidemiologist Roman Prymula, who has helped coordinate government measures to curb infections.

 

[Adam]

I'm sorry but you wanting wee Latapy bussed off to school so you can watch Judge Rinder in peace should not be government priority right now. fact. end off x

 

 

A proper Yer Da AVE GOAT TWO WEANS post, but I had a quick swatch at my sent emails on the weeks during the original lockdown in March when I had my kids at my house. I sent, on average, three times more emails on the weeks my kids were at their Mum’s house than when they were with me.

 

My kids are 11 and 9, so not needing constant attention, but sort of goes to show that home schooling can be difficult whilst juggling WFH, so I’m sure my employer, and thousands of others, are praying that schools remain open over anything else tbh.

 

Edit: I write code for a living and in May I was probably quite close to getting the tin tack for taking a week to write a script that should probably have taken a day, but my youngest son was being a massive pain in the arse and wouldn’t shut up. Keep them in school plz.

[Turkmenbashi]

18 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

I was on a bus yesterday, wearing my mask as is required. I went on the top deck as there's usually less people there.

A 50 something bam was sitting at the front with his mask pulled down, drinking an energy drink, coughing and sniffing, wiping his fingers everywhere. I was 2m away from this guy...

1) It did cross my mind to call him out about wearing a mask but cowardice won the day. Given there's likely to be more restrictions now I wish I had.

2) He seemed representative of the 15% a poster mentioned that don't give a f*ck. Some other folk got on and sat opposite this guy and if he did have Covid there's a good chance they were at risk of catching it. 

If more restrictions are put in place again will that get the message through to some folk or will they still not bother?

If the rules aren't backed up by serious enforcement and fines etc, then they will still not bother. Rather than tightening of the rules, which if anything should be relaxed imo, what should be done is more serious punishment for those who do actually breach them. Including those who refuse to wear masks. With almost no exemptions

[Dee Man]

12 minutes ago, Adam said:

 

A proper Yer Da AVE GOAT TWO WEANS post, but I had a quick swatch at my sent emails on the weeks during the original lockdown in March when I had my kids at my house. I sent, on average, three times more emails on the weeks my kids were at their Mum’s house than when they were with me.

 

My kids are 11 and 9, so not needing constant attention, but sort of goes to show that home schooling can be difficult whilst juggling WFH, so I’m sure my employer, and thousands of others, are praying that schools remain open over anything else tbh.

 

Edit: I write code for a living and in May I was probably quite close to getting the tin tack for taking a week to write a script that should probably have taken a day, but my youngest son was being a massive pain in the arse and wouldn’t shut up. Keep them in school plz.

 

[welshbairn]

 

[Paco]

Is there a chance the biggest driver of Covid from schools returning isn’t the kids entering the classroom but the behaviour it enables?

 

Mummies gathering at the school gates. Impromptu coffee outings. Heading back to Susan’s for a blether. Allowing parents to go back into their workplace. Picking the kids up from a childminder/family/grandparents and mingling as you do so. Invites to kids parties at the weekend and mingling with other parents.

 

Quite clearly shit started hitting the fan when schools went back. You can point to it on the chart. However the numbers for schoolkids, especially primary, are not rising at the rate of the general population. There has to be something in the ‘kids don’t carry it as much’ or one case in a class would at the bare minimum be sending down three or four every time, and that just doesn’t seem to happen. Equally Test & Protect would notice with ease if the parents of entire classes were picking up Covid transmitted via the asymptomatic kids.

 

The Facebook Maws might just be the real enemy.